114 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



hath gone forth, " by the sweat of thy brow thou slialt eat bread all 

 thy days." Trees beautiful to see and good for food do not spring up 

 with mushroom growtli, but require nights of nursing and days of 

 watching. Thoughtful minds and cunning fingers, and all honor to 

 those that have tried, and are now trying the most perfect methods of 

 tilling the earth so as to produce the best results in combining the 

 beautiful, the useful and good. Historians tell us that horticulture 

 as gardening has been pursued from the earliest times of civilization or 

 national refinement. The sacred historian tells us of the grapes of 

 Eschal, the pomegranate and fruits of the field. Of the tall cedars of 

 Lebanon of which Solomon, the wisest of the wise, built his house on 

 the mountain Bide for his Egyptian bride, of his gardens, watered from 

 the eternal springs. In his immortal song he sings his i)raises of the 

 Eose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. According to Pliny the 

 Eomans had small gardens filled with roses, violets and other sweet 

 scented flowers, but the thoughtful and cultured Greek brought the 

 art to a higher state of cultivation, and to them we owe the origin of 

 some of our choice plants. We have all read of the beautiful temple 

 of Daphne, which, by their cunning and expert hand, combined with 

 Eoman money, was almost too beautiful for earth, and leaves Old 

 Antioch one of the immortal things of the past. And even where the 

 Arab stretched his tents the proud old shiek had his orchajd of palms, 

 dividing his time and thoughts with his beautiful Arab steed. But in 

 those old days of war and rumors of war there was not time for the 

 art to reach perfection, for we learn the science declined with the fall 

 of Eome and was trodden under foot by the roving Goth and vandal, 

 and was not revived until long after, under the monastic rule. Charle- 

 magne established gardens and by royal edict directed the plants to be 

 grown. The lords and nobles had gardens of their own, and England,, 

 in an early eay, had pleasure gardens, with fountains and walks, hedged 

 in around and about, but it was not until about 1717 that conserva- 

 tories were constructed. From that time on to the present horticul- 

 ture has become an art and persons hav.e been trained for the work. 



It is only within the last forty or fifty years that it has made much 

 progress here in the United States, but truly we can say it has gone 

 forward with a bound in the last few years. The impetus given to it 

 by the great horticultural and agricultural societies of the nation and 

 of the states in convention, where thought meets thought, method com- 

 pared with method. Truly in multitude of counsel there is good as 

 well as safety. With helps that are now at hand and can be procured, 

 almost every one can beautify and furnish themselves with trees that 



